We Wouldn’t Need So Much Esteem If We Had More Love

We Wouldn’t Need So Much Esteem If We Had More Love

EsteemLove

Perhaps you’ve had an experience similar to mine. I grew up believing I could DO anything. I was nurtured by the concept that everything I desired could be mine, if only I was willing to work for it.

What I did not understand, amid my action full of DOing, was this was not the whole story. Sure, I could try and do everything, and I might even impress myself in doing so, but without the other piece of the puzzle, this doing of mine lacked a real purpose.

I had learned to be full of self-esteem but I lacked self-love. I knew I could DO, but I couldn’t see nor appreciate the BEing behind it. I was the product of a cultural environment that emphasizes what you DO (the external) more than who you ARE (the internal).

We’ve been taught to believe that through DOing we are entitled to everything we desire. And while this sounds good and is partially true, it is an unbalanced approach that prevents us from recognizing that our value is far greater than the esteem-based DOing we’ve limited our self with, and tangled our self in. Without including the value of our BEing, we are leaving our self starving to receive recognition from others, for inside we haven’t learned about the true value we posses.

Without knowing the value of our BEing, we can’t help but be caught up in the esteem-based DOing — a DOing done not because we need to, but because we think we should. We can’t see another way to have the life we desire. And so we strive for outside power (beauty, money, status) more and more in an attempt to fulfill the thing we need more of. Love.

We wouldn’t need so much esteem if we had more love. Care, compassion, respect, value. We need them as much as we need beauty, money and status. One does not need to be pursued at the expense of the other. Through loving our self, we can create the esteem we desire.

photo credit: Caleb George

Addicted to the Pain

Addicted to the Pain

Addicted

Do you ever get so addicted to the pain of something that you don’t want to break out of it? Have you ever felt so much pain and so consistently that you start to feel you deserve it — that it’s meant to be there? Have you ever stayed with your pain — not changing it, not empowering yourself?

When we do this, we make ourselves a victim of our pain. It’s selfish in the end. We’re so overwhelmed by our feelings of despair and unfairness that we forget our responsibility… to our self and others. We forget our responsibility to care about people and things outside our pain, including ourselves.

Our pain matters. It has a point. Its value lies in how we acknowledge it, learn from it, and grow from it. It is not something for us to simply accept and live with. We’ve got to have compassion for our Self. We’ve got to push for our joy.

photo credit: LL Twistiti

You Need to Be More

You Need to Be More

photo credit: morgan sessions

Not more than you are but as much as you are.
Not THE best but YOUR best.
You need to live up to your purpose, and you need to know you have exactly what it takes to do so. Being your best is an inside job. It’s yours to define and to design.

In the quest for more, it’s the desire to be the best that inevitably diminishes you, and your creative energy. For it’s simply not possible to attain. You can never be the best. However, awakening and exploring your desire to be your best is powerful and sustainable fuel for your creative energy. It is what drives you to live your purpose.

To be your best, you need to be as much as you are and nothing more. Always.

photo credit: Morgan Sessions